Taxi driver dies after police drag him behind van - video

Mido Macia, 27, dies of head injury as footage emerges of him being handcuffed to a police van

SOUTH AFRICA'S police watchdog has launched a murder investigation after footage emerged of officers handcuffing a man to a van and dragging him down the street for 400m after an argument about parking.

Mido Macia, a 27-year-old taxi driver, was found dead in a police cell in Daveyton, near east Johannesburg, less than two-and-a-half hours after the incident on Tuesday. According to a post-mortem, Macia died of head injuries and internal bleeding, the Guardian reports.

South African newspaper the Daily Sun published the footage (below) as part of a story titled ‘Murdered by the South African police service'. Up to three policemen are thought to be involved in the incident with the video taken by a concerned bystander. A horrified witness can be heard shouting in Zulu: "What has this guy done?"

South Africa's National Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega "strongly condemned" brutality, her office said in a statement.